Chosen Solution
Hi Everyone! My PS4 after an hour or so would shut itself off to prevent damage. From what I could research online, I decided to replace the thermal paste and pads in the system, thinking that it might be bad seal on the pads or paste. (When I opened up the system for the first time, two of the pads were completely dried out.) After I replaced the paste and pads, I inserted a copy of Killzone: Shadow Fall to see if it would shut itself off again. When I started up the campaign, the fan ramped up to the highest setting. (It had started going through the different fan speeds from the menu, with Shadow Fall significantly speeding up the process.) I’m worried that I missed something, so I wanted to double check my work with you guys before I continued. Here is what I did:
- Cleaned off stock thermal paste with Arctic Silver Remover & Cleanser.
- Replaced original thermal paste with Arctic Silver Alumina thermal paste
- Replaced stock thermal pads with Mod/smart Fujipoly 11 W/mk, 1mm thickness, 40% elongation. (Replacement pads were roughly 10mmx10mm. One thought I had was maybe the pads weren’t thick enough to form a good connection.) Did I miss anything? The thermal paste and pads was my best guess at the problem, keeping in mind the two dried-out thermal pads. Any help or input would be appreciated. The PS4 is one of the early versions, that I believe is known for issues with the Thermal Paste.
Thermal paste does not and will not ever cause the console to just randomly turn off WITH THE EXCEPTION of an overheating event. Yours wasn’t overheating unless it beeped loudly and turned the red light on before it turned off. It sounds like the most likely cause of your original problem is just the typical problem with the solder joints/oxidized pads on the APU. This is a super common problem with PS4’s. As far as the problem you are having now it’s most likely just something that didn’t get put back correctly (Since the fan wasn’t running loudly before you took it apart). I see this often at my shop. It’s most likely either that the two large screws that hold the APU tight are not tight, the APU clamp is upside down or something is misaligned that is not letting the APU sit tightly against the heat sink. If I were you I would take it apart again and check everything closely. I hope this helps and good luck!
